Piotr Zieliński
Piotr Sebastian Zieliński (Polish pronunciation: [ˈpjɔtr ʑɛˈlij̃skʲi] (
listen); born 20 May 1994) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Napoli and the Poland national team. During his senior career he has also played for Udinese and Empoli.
![]() Zieliński playing for Napoli in 2019 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Piotr Sebastian Zieliński[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 20 May 1994[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Ząbkowice Śląskie, Poland | ||
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Napoli | ||
| Number | 20 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2003–2007 | Orzeł Ząbkowice Śląskie | ||
| 2007–2011 | Zagłębie Lubin | ||
| 2011–2012 | Udinese | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2012–2016 | Udinese | 19 | (0) |
| 2014–2016 | → Empoli (loan) | 63 | (5) |
| 2016– | Napoli | 196 | (30) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2009 | Poland U15 | 5 | (1) |
| 2009–2010 | Poland U16 | 6 | (0) |
| 2010–2011 | Poland U17 | 10 | (1) |
| 2012 | Poland U18 | 5 | (1) |
| 2011–2012 | Poland U19 | 15 | (5) |
| 2012–2013 | Poland U21 | 3 | (1) |
| 2013– | Poland | 66 | (7) |
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:59, 5 December 2021 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15 November 2021 | |||
Zieliński was selected to represent Poland at UEFA Euro 2016 in France, as well as the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia and the pan-European UEFA Euro 2020. He has two brothers who are also professional footballers – Paweł and Tomasz Zieliński.
Club career
Early career
Zieliński started his career at his local club, Orzeł Ząbkowice Śląskie, where he was coached by his father.[2] At the age of 14, he joined Zagłębie Lubin, even though he was wanted by Bayer Leverkusen and Liverpool and also had trials at Feyenoord and Hereenveen.[2] He rose through the ranks and started training with the first team at the age of 15, under Franciszek Smuda.[2]
At 17 he moved abroad to join Udinese Calcio after they scouted him on international youth tournament.[2]
Udinese
He made his debut in Serie A on 2 November 2012 when he replaced Antonio Di Natale in 91st minute of a match against Cagliari.[3]
Napoli
On 4 August 2016, after months of transfer speculation, Zieliński moved from Udinese to Napoli for a reported €16 million.[5] He scored his first goal with Partenopei's shirt on 3 December, in a 3–0 home win against Inter Milan;[6] he ended his first season with six goals. On 31 August 2020 he signed new contract with Napoli until 2024. On 31 October 2021, not only he decides the derby between U.S. Salernitana 1919 and Napoli, scoring the only goal of the game, but he also becomes the second best polish goal-scorer in Serie A's history, beating Zbigniew Boniek's record.
International career
On 4 June 2013, Zieliński made his senior international debut for Poland in a friendly match against Liechtenstein.[7]
In May 2018, he was named in Poland’s preliminary 35-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.[8]
Personal life
On 2 October 2020, Zieliński tested positive for COVID-19 amid its pandemic in Italy.[9]
Career statistics
Club
- As of match played 4 December 2021[10]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Udinese | 2012–13 | Serie A | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 9 | 0 | |
| 2013–14 | Serie A | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[lower-alpha 1] | 0 | – | 11 | 0 | ||
| Total | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 20 | 0 | |||
| Empoli | 2014–15 | Serie A | 28 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 30 | 0 | ||
| 2015–16 | Serie A | 35 | 5 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 36 | 5 | |||
| Total | 63 | 5 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 66 | 5 | ||||
| Napoli | 2016–17 | Serie A | 36 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 7[lower-alpha 2] | 0 | – | 47 | 6 | |
| 2017–18 | Serie A | 36 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 9[lower-alpha 3] | 3 | – | 47 | 7 | ||
| 2018–19 | Serie A | 36 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 12[lower-alpha 4] | 1 | – | 49 | 7 | ||
| 2019–20 | Serie A | 37 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 7[lower-alpha 2] | 0 | – | 49 | 2 | ||
| 2020–21 | Serie A | 36 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 6[lower-alpha 1] | 2 | 1[lower-alpha 5] | 0 | 47 | 10 | |
| 2021–22 | Serie A | 15 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4[lower-alpha 1] | 1 | – | 19 | 6 | ||
| Total | 196 | 30 | 16 | 1 | 45 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 258 | 38 | ||
| Career total | 278 | 35 | 19 | 1 | 46 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 344 | 43 | ||
- Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League
- Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League
- Seven appearances and two goals in UEFA Champions League, two appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League
- Six appearances in UEFA Champions League, six appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League
- Appearance in Supercoppa Italiana
International
- As of match played 15 November 2021[11]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poland | 2013 | 7 | 3 |
| 2014 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2015 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2016 | 10 | 0 | |
| 2017 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2018 | 12 | 3 | |
| 2019 | 10 | 0 | |
| 2020 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2021 | 10 | 1 | |
| Total | 66 | 7 |
International goals
- Scores and results list Poland's goal tally first.[11]
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 14 August 2013 | PGE Arena Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland | Friendly | |||
| 2. | 10 September 2013 | Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino | 5–1 | 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification | ||
| 3. | ||||||
| 4. | 27 March 2018 | Stadion Śląski, Chorzów, Poland | Friendly | |||
| 5. | 8 June 2018 | Stadion Miejski, Poznań, Poland | ||||
| 6. | 7 September 2018 | Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna, Italy | 2018–19 UEFA Nations League A | |||
| 7. | 8 June 2021 | Stadion Miejski, Poznań, Poland | Friendly |
References
- "FIFA World Cup Russia 2018: List of players: Poland" (PDF). FIFA. 15 July 2018. p. 22. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 December 2019.
- "Skąd się wziął w Udinese Piotr Zieliński?" [How did Zielinski came to Udinese?] (in Polish). Weszło!. 18 April 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
- "Debiut Piotra Zielińskiego w Serie A" [Piotr Zieliński debuts in Serie A] (in Polish). Interia. 2 December 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
- "Empoli, dall'Udinese Zielinski in prestito". www.tuttosport.com (in Italian). 1 September 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
- "Official: Zielinski joins Napoli". Football Italia. 4 August 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
- "Le pagelle di Napoli-Inter: Zielinski dominatore, Perisic non pervenuto". La Repubblica (in Italian). 2 December 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
- "Skromna wygrana na pożegnanie Dudka" (in Polish). 90minut.pl.
- "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - Final 23-man lists". goal.com. Goal. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
- "Napoli: Zielinski has coronavirus". Football Italia. 2 October 2020.
- "Piotr Zieliński". Soccerway. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
- "Zieliński, Piotr". National Football Teams. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
- "Coppa: Napoli beat Juventus on penalties". Football Italia. 17 June 2020.
- "Turniej Czterech Narodów U-21: Niemcy 1-2 Polska. Polska zwycięzcą rozgrywek" [Four Nations Tournament U-21: Germany 1-2 Poland. Poland is the winner of the competition]. 90minut.pl (in Polish). 27 March 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
External links
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Piotr Zieliński (footballer). |
- Piotr Zieliński at 90minut.pl (in Polish)

- Piotr Zieliński at Soccerway

- Piotr Zieliński at National-Football-Teams.com

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